1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the field of electronic communications.
2. Art Background
Electronic commerce is achieving widespread use. Transactions are preformed everyday over the Internet and through point of sale (POS) or bank systems. Such systems are designed to maintain the integrity of the user's credit card, debit card, and account number. However, no measures are taken to ensure the privacy of the user. As the vendor retains information regarding the identity of the user, the user is open to receipt of marketing materials that may result from the data mining of transactions performed on a particular network.
The rapid growth of both wired and wireless communications has resulted in an increase in methods of communication. Along with the increase in the methods of communication has come the increase in access or control codes for accessing information. Often these control codes are personal identification numbers (PINs) and/or passwords. These codes may be used for accessing such information as: voice mail, bank balances, dialing cards, credit reports, paying for purchases, depositing money, accessing stored messages, logging onto computers, etc. For security reasons, generally the longer the access code the less likelihood of an unauthorized person guessing your code or password. Additionally, passwords or PINs that appear random are also likely to be more resistant to penetration. Remembering a series of long and/or random codes presents a problem for most people.
Additionally, once a service is accessed, there may be the need to then transfer information and/or data. For example, after successfully accessing a phone line via a calling card, the user may then need to enter a string of digits representing the destination telephone number. Again, people have difficulty in remembering a long series of, in this case, numbers.
Finally, when people enter access codes at public places, there is the possibility that someone may be watching with an intent to steal the codes for later use or sale. Once an access code has been stolen it may take the user time to discover this and billing corrects may be difficult. Because the access number are generally long in sequence, humans tend to write them down which may defeat the purpose of the code if someone copies or steals the code. Thus, a long sequence of numbers is difficult to remember and may lead to writing it down which may defeat some aspects of the security.